The Lost Art
by myfavoritegame
Summary: Lupin pays a normal visit to Tonks and gets a bit more than he bargained for. All characters are JKR's :


Remus John Lupin was jealous of fishnet stockings. Not because they were something he coveted – that would be too bizarre. No, he was jealous because they were wrapped around the smooth, creamy legs of one Nymphadora Tonks.

It all started innocently enough. Remus had been tasked with delivering to Tonks a dark artifact recovered from a rather irritated Death Eater named Proffitt Lindsay. Apparently, Mr. Lindsay had fallen out of favor with Bellatrix Lestrange some years back and, as revenge, swiped a rather peculiar glass orb. Moody had hoped Tonks would have some idea as to its use. Sirius was more concerned with the ever-diminishing firewhiskey supply to notice. With orb in hand, Remus ventured to Tonks' upper London flat and within minutes was knocking on her bright yellow door. He had owled her earlier at the Ministry to expect his arrival.

_Merlin, who in their right mind would paint a door yellow,_ he thought. Glancing at the other doors along the hall, he soon knew the answer. The yellow monstrosity was the only one of its kind on the third floor. "I'm surprised it isn't pink," he muttered with a smirk on his rugged face. After a couple of minutes, a series of loud bangs, and a few choice curses, Tonks appeared in the doorway.

"Remus," she exclaimed, "what on earth are you doing here so late?" Remus didn't hear her because he was distracted by her attire – or lack of it. The first thing he noticed was her legs. Creamy white and well muscled; they were adorned with a rather fetching pair of closely-knit fishnet stockings that gently caressed her calves and thighs. He followed the curve of the stockings and soon rested on the little black dress draping her body. His amber eyes then trailed the soft curves of her hips, the expanse of her narrow waist, her petite breasts, and finally came to rest on her lovely pink lips. Only then did he realize she was speaking to him.

"Remus? Is everything all right? You look a little flushed," her gentle voice murmured.

_No, everything is not all right, _he thought. _I've just been caught gaping at a very sexy woman who until now I thought of as a friend. _"I'm… I'm fine," he stammered - his eyes drifting back to her voluptuous legs, "I assume you didn't receive my owl. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"You're not interrupting. Actually, you were the one who inspired me." Tonks said with a shrug and a smirk.

_Inspired her? Inspired her!_ Remus desperately tried to remember what he had said or done to "inspire" her to dress like his wildest schoolboy fantasy. _I'll have to inspire her more often. _His mind clamped down on that vicarious train of thought. _NO! No! I am a poised English gentleman, I will not think of Tonks like this. I will not think of her legs propped up in my lap or my hands roaming over her silky dress…_

"Inspired you to do what pray tell?" he inquired as he anxiously darted his eyes around the room. Several boxes were strewn across the small living room, books were piled in every corner, and what appeared to be a small clothing boutique had exploded in the center.

"Cleaning, of course! Spending all those days sanitizing Grimmauld Place with you has made me into something of a neat freak!" Tonks then started collecting a few haphazard magazines off the sofa and motioned for Remus to sit. He perched rather unsteadily on the lime green material.

"Tonks, perhaps I should remind you what cleaning actually entails?" His long fingers gestured to the mess surrounding them. "Do you always dress like that to "clean"?"

"What? Oh! OH! This? I'm cleaning out the closet first, and I found this little dress. Haven't worn it in ages. Thought I'd shimmy into it and see if I still fancy the thing." She started to blush.

I'd rather see you shimmy out of it, Remus thought. Dear Merlin! She's 13 years younger than me and my best friend's cousin to boot! What am I thinking? 

_You're thinking it's been 12 years, 4 months, 8 days and 13 hours since you've gotten laid. That's what you're thinking_, a voice he now thought of as Evil Remus replied.

He ventured a glance in Tonks' direction and vaguely noticed she was speaking again.

"What brings you here, Remus?"

"Moody confiscated a interesting orb from Proffitt Lindsay yesterday. We've been knocking heads to figure out its purpose, but we're stumped. He claimed he "creatively borrowed" it from Bellatrix. Have any idea what it does?" With a flourish he retrieved the orb from his shabby cloak and handed it to her.

"I haven't seen this in years!" she squealed with joy. "It's an emotion orb that belonged to my mother. It changes color based what the holder is feeling at the time." The orb was glowing a fiery red in her hands. "Bella always had a penchant for taken shiny objects that didn't belong to her. I'll take it to the Ministry tomorrow to inspect it, but it's very harmless." With that, she started to walk toward the sofa and reach for her backpack.

At least that was the plan until an errant rug impeded her path. She flailed her arms to steady herself but ended up falling chest first into Remus' open arms.

_My my my. This is quite nice, quite nice indeed, _Evil Remus thought as Tonks inadvertently rubbed her chest into his face. _I've got to get as far as humanly possible from her_, Good Remus thought.

Wincing, Tonks righted herself and sat next to Remus on the cluttered sofa. "I am so sorry," she muttered.

"Are you all right?" The air of concern was very apparent in his voice.

"I think I twisted my ankle on the way down."

"Let me have a look," Remus replied. _Just a look?_ Evil Remus was pouting. "You've definitely twisted it. Luckily, I'm very proficient at healing spells." _Among other things_.

He gently pulled her leg onto his lap and placed his left hand over the ever-growing knot on her ankle. His wand hovered over his hand as he silently concentrated on the healing spell. Once he was satisfied with the results, he noticed that he was still holding Tonks' leg. _I wonder what it would feel like to kiss my way down the velvety skin of her thigh, to place my hands on her hips, to feel that leg wrap around my waist while I pleasure her. I wonder what kind of knickers a girl would wear with those stockings…. _

Remus had to leave. He had to get as far away from Tonks as he could. He didn't know what would happen if he kept caressing this beautiful witches' leg. Besides, having his grubby paws on her was probably the last thing she wanted.

"Well, now that we've got you all fixed up, I shall take my leave. Good night and good cleaning, Nymphadora." He quickly gathered his cloak and made a hasty exit, his blush all too evident.

Tonks slowly paced to the door and reapplied her wards. Her plan went even better than she thought. When she received his post at work, she knew it was now or never. The look on his face when she opened the door was priceless. Granted, twisting her ankle wasn't in the original scheme, but it worked out very nicely. She remembered the tiny tremble in his hand when he healed her injury. His eyes revealed a hidden struggle between the bashful professor and the desire-ridden man going on in his mind.

With a small smile on her face, she thought _I'm buying the finest bottle of firewhiskey for Sirius. After all, he did let it slip that Remus was a leg man._

And she thought seduction was a lost art.

Fin


End file.
